Ukrainian army ‘on full alert’, president admits east is beyond control

The Ukrainian army is on full alert due to the “threat of a Russian invasion,” Ukraine’s acting President Aleksandr Turchinov said after admitting that the government in Kiev cannot control the situation in the east of the country.

“I am going back to the real threat that Russia would unleash a continental war against Ukraine. Our armed forces have been put on full alert,” Turchinov told Wednesday a council of heads of Ukrainian regions in Kiev, as news agencies report.

He called on the audience to speed up the creation of regional militias loyal to Kiev.

“We must have the capability to move those units fast to support other regions against such a threat,” he stressed.

Turchinov admitted that Kiev simply cannot get the situation in the rebellious eastern regions under control and reiterated earlier accusations, saying some people in law enforcement “are cooperating with terrorist organizations,” the name Kiev authorities use to refer to anti-government protesters who are seizing government buildings in eastern Ukraine.

“Our primary task is to prevent the spread of the terrorist threat to other regions of Ukraine,” he said.